Snow Leopard to drop PowerPC support?
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted June 11th 2008 1:55PM
posted June 11th 2008 1:55PM
[Via Mac Rumors; Thanks, Kiwi616]
posted June 11th 2008 1:55PM
powered by gdgt
Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard
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Which is why most businesses do not use APPLE software and do use Windows.
Businesses are not people, they need long amounts of time to capitalize their investments.
For those who bought a > $3k DP or QC G5 machines right before the Intel announcement; dropping PPC support for 10.6 Snow Leopard (which sounds to be basically a stability & performance release) is not a good announcement.
I can fully understand that a G3 has been dropped already and a G4 would be dropped, but dropping the G5 which performs better than most of Apple's 1st generation Intel machines ... plain old sucks. For those who think Intel is better, check the macworld benchmark numbers, the G5s are workhorses that get the job done. I will take a G5 any day over a 1st gen Intel macbook, iMac, mac mini which are hampered by slower busses, hard drives, etc.
I can only hope plenty of individuals and businesses that made a serious investments in G5 systems will give Apple some feedback.
I agree with your post but various sources already stated that even with Apple moving towards Intel chips, any G5 purchased would still be a good investments for 2-3 years, that timeline seems just about right. Although it is still an unknown, to install applications, Leopard isn't a minimum requirement, last time I checked most apps require at least 10.4.9 or higher. If Snow Leopard is released as just tweaks, I doubt that apps will require 10.6 to be the minimum requirement.
I could understand if some companies require the latest and greatest but some don't. Photoshop is Photoshop regardless if it's CS2 or CS3 unless you absolutely will utilize all the new features in CS3 but CS2 is still widely used.
Besides, don't expect 10.6 to be out soon, so that will add at least a year to PPC users.
(Just because you won't be able to use 10.6 doesn't mean your Mac is garbage. That also applies to Windows users. XP is still fine)
As a long time apple customer I had more than a hunch that this would happen. Backwards compatibility is not really something they foster to say the least.
I am of the view that a computer's practical life span is roughly 3-5 years. This of course depends on the use that you make of a computer and what you need a computer for. If you are only using it for surfing the net and writing emails and word processing then the life span can be considerably longer. On the other hand if you are a power user playing games or doing graphic design then your life cycle would be shorter. Chances are that if you are a power user you will want the best and latest OS but with that you will probably be upgrading the hardware on your mac on a regular basis.
Take my family for example.
My mum purely uses her computer to word process and browse the web she has had the same 12" Al PB i think the 1.33ghz for 4 years now and i suspect will keep using it for another 4 years short of it breaking down and repairs being too expensive. Does she care if she is running OS 10.4 10.5 or 10.6? absolutely not. All she cares is that it doesn't crash too often or break down.
My Dad he is a much more intense user he heavily uses word processing apps and browsing but he also does lots of other things like working with movies and pictures. He likes his computer to be fast he however does not feel the need to change computer all that often he is currently using a MBP 17'' 2.16. I expect him to use his computer for about 5-6 years total or until it completely dies. His view of the OS is change when its certain that its stable and if he cant upgrade he wont be too phased out about it.
As for me im much more a power user i use my computer a lot and i do indulge in gaming quite frequently. I usually run a minimum of 7-9 apps many processor intensive. I like it to be fast and i push it to the limit. Currently i am running the 2.4ghz 17'' MBP previously i was running the 17'' 1.5ghz PB which was a hand me down from my dad. My ideal life span for a computer is 3 years but will probably stretch to 4 depending on finances and how well the computer is holding up. I absolutely care if i am running the latest OS and i would be very annoyed if i could not run the latest and the greatest.
I think my family pretty much is a decent cross section of the different computer users. If you are running a really old computer chances are that you are not a hard core user and that you don't really care that much what OS you are running as long as it works and does its job. If you are a power user then chances are that you do care what OS you are running but you will be pretty much unaffected because your hardware cycle is much shorter.
So this is a very long winded explanation as to why i don't think dropping support for older hardware is such a big issue. It will be a pain though for all those people who upgraded at the very end of the G5 cycle i.e. late 2005 as they will still have a year or so left in their systems. and for those wondering according to MacTracker the last G5 IMacs and Power Macs came out October 2005
OMG 512MB OF RAM? WUT A MEMORY HOG
Many of the posters here are new Mac users, and haven't even been around on the Mac long enough to have used a PPC machine, so of course you think it's fine that they are dropping support for them.
I am writing this on a 2005 Dual-Core 2.0 G5 machine with 4 gigs RAM, and dual 22-inch displays, that is plenty fast - and faster than the base Intel models introduced in 2006. Many companies still have PPC machines - especially G5's, and they are powerful enough to be workhorses for years to come. Currently, PPC machines still account for around 50% of the Mac user base. That's huge. That's also a lot of revenue for a potential upgrade. Apple traditionally supports machines for 5 years - not four. I want to have the latest Apple OS, but I don't want to buy a new $2000 machine when mine works great.
I understand that to optimize for two architectures takes a lot of work, time, and money - but 'comon Apple. Give the PPC machines one last breath before death.
For those of us who are in the creative industry, this might be a massive hit. And as you have stated, PowerPC's are real workhorses that are far from obsolete.
How much different do you think snow leopard will be on the G5 compared to Leopard?
The whole point of snow leopard to me is to drop PPC, and thus help them better support the machines of the future. All the new features sound like they are going to only make much of a difference on the current Mac pros and MacBookPro.
Standard Leopard will still run. Snow Leopard is simple OSX been cleaned up to better operate in the future before the code base becomes such a mess removing PPC code becomes a nightmare.
I don't think you fully understand what's going on here. 10.5 for PPC will continue to be maintained and updated after 10.6 is out. Apple obviously wants to further optimize OS X for Intel machines, so even if 10.6 supported PPC machines you wouldn't see those optimizations anyway - because they're Intel specific. So instead of making 10.6 run on both when PPC machines wouldn't see the benefit anyway, and because apparently 10.6 isn't going to have a bunch of new features either, why should they include PPC support in it?
Instead, they'll continue to support PPC machines with 10.5 updates, even after 10.6 is out. As I see it this is a good place for a split specifically because it looks like 10.6 isn't getting anything new anyway besides optimizations for Intel Macs. So users of PPC Macs won't be missing out on new features, and they're not missing out on optimizations either. This really isn't a big deal, and it will be well over 5 years before Apple discontinues support for PPC Macs (via 10.5).
If the cost of upgrading to an Intel based Mac is your only concern, then I'd suggest building a $300 - $500 Hackintosh to hold you over until you get afford an Intel Mac Pro.
note how they said that Snow Lepoard was supposed to do better with dual-core procs(the nly 2 core procs apple has ever used is CD and C2D), wouldnt this have been expected?
but that will give them the ability to make this much smoother because there doesnt have to be....
1-compatibilty issues
2-the ability to run this on a single core proc
this will also be good cause the C2Ds used by apple are top-of-the-line, most over 2.1GHz with 2 GB L2(the only lower than this are the mac minis and the MBAs, which perform exceptionally well for they clocking speed)
so to wrap it up, this change was both expected and needed
errrr..... they did make Dual core PPC G5s.
im sorry
i meant that the only good dual core procs apple has ever used are the CDs and the C2Ds
for those of you who say that the power pc platform is not obscelete, i beg to differ
i used a ibook on G3, a macbook on G4 and a iMac and a Mac Pro on G5 and they all delivered performance that does not even compete with the C2Ds apple is using now
im not saying obscelete, just not as good, therefore no cost effecient way to inlude support for PPC(by not cost efficient, i mean profitability)
Don't ignore the fact that a PowerMac G5 outclasses the bulk of the first generation of intel products, apart from the mac pro, by generalizing the CD & C2D chips as being one and the same.
a dual & quad Processor 64bit G5 runs better than 32 bit CD macbooks, minis, iMacs etc.
G3 < G4 < CD < G5 < C2D
I have a PowerMac DP 2.5 G5 and MacBook CD. While the CPU of the MB may be better on paper and inch out in certain calculations by a few seconds, the macbook can't cut it because it is built around laptop components, slow hard drive, slow optical drive, ...
It's possible that Snow Leopard is not 10.6. I've not seen anything official that states 10.6 and Snow Leopard are one in the same.
Some websites have posted screen shots of snow leopard, including the "about this mac" window which states 10.6
also, as a stockholder, have you seen what apple stock has done since they intod the Mac line that inluded C2D! it is better for the company too
made me a lot of money
also at geoffery, good point
as it is called snow lepoard, it could be a 2.0 of leopard like there was for the iPhone
I still run 10.4 on a PPC G4 powerbook and don't even feel the need to upgrade to 10.5. Not a big deal to me if they exclude my machine in 10.6
we already knew this shit, big deal, upgrade your Mac or enjoy Tiger until you can afford too.
The 2ghz PPC and 2GB ram in my almost 3-year-old iMac is still more than powerful enough for me and my uses, so I'll stick with Tiger until this computer breaks or I need more power for a new use. Before then, I'm not interested.
I thought they told us this on Monday.
Considering the lack of support for classic in 10.5 it's really about time to dump PowerPCs. I say that as an owner of a G4 powerbook. I stopped upgrading at 10.4 since I still have classic support with it and that's the only reason to really use a PPC.
Good think linux still supports powerpc :-)
Dropping.. Popping... Picking and Wishing... What the heck.. I may as well throw in Fishing in there too! Superlatives and other bits.. Hmmm... As for the real questions we need to ask ourselves before we go ahead and rush out and buy a new Mac just to have the lastest and greatest... They're all based upon the premise of "What are we using our computers for". Let me explain. I use a PowerMac G4 DP 1.25 with 2GB of RAM, running Tiger 10.4.11 and guess what... It runs like a dream! All the PPC Apps that I use are not going to leave my side... Period! Why... Because they suit me just fine. (I will however eventually be using my PowerMac as the basis of my Digital Entertainment System and other basic tasks... Which is what I dare say other PPC users will do too). As for my PowerBook G4 1.33 I will be palming it off to my Mother mid next year when I will be grabbing a brand spanking MacBook.. which I will more than likely max out with RAM and chucking on Vista.. as I may need access to some Windows Apps.. although I am getting by without it just fine (am playing the waiting game on that one). As an Internet Marketer.. and all round curious guy.. it seems to me that there will be more and more Apps that will come out as pure Web Based Apps.. In fact it's already happening.. Which means a faster computer that can process stuff more efficiently can only be a good thing.. That rare beast being the "Snow Leopard". Having said all this.. I am looking forward to getting hold of a new 10.6 point whatever update.. MacBook mid year next. Until then I am going to continue to enjoy my Tiger based PPC Machines and the Apps that work with them.